Second in the Tour de Ski
“Friedrich the Sensational” is beyond the top of the world
January 7, 2024, 6:25 p.m
The final stage of the Tour de Ski is infamous because it is so steep and difficult. But for Friedrich Moch it comes just right: the 23-year-old storms into second place in the daily and overall rankings. No German cross-country skier has been this good for 15 years.
Friedrich Moch couldn’t be beaten: almost the entire competition was completely flattened in the snow, but the new German cross-country skiing star was standing in the finish area of the infamous Alpe Cermis, laughing and with his fist raised. Shortly before, the Allgäu native had sensationally stormed to second place in the overall ranking on the ultra-difficult final stage of the Tour de Ski – the first German runner to reach the podium in 15 years.
“It’s just unbelievable. I was really hoping for the podium and I gave it my all,” said the 23-year-old, who put in a fantastic performance in Val di Fiemme to take second place in the day’s results and thus his best World Cup result: “Second in the Tour? I still can’t understand that.” Moch’s reward after the brutal final climb, which was up to 30 percent steep, was extremely modest: “I would like a coke first.”
Axel Teichmann achieved the last German podium finish to date with third place in the third edition in 2008/09. Tobias Angerer won the premiere of the Tour de Ski in 2006/07, and a year later Rene Sommerfeldt came second.
High-flyer Moch had to admit defeat only to Frenchman Jules Lapierre in the final mass start over 10 kilometers and missed his first World Cup victory by just 2.4 seconds. In the overall ranking, Moch was 1:19.2 minutes behind the Norwegian Harald Östberg Amundsen, who finished fifth was enough to secure an unchallenged Tour victory. “We can be really proud of Friedrich, that’s sensational,” said German sports director Andreas Schlütter, who represented head coach Peter Schlickenrieder, who was banned after the Davos “skiing affair”: “He’s standing on the podium here as a seasoned man.”
“Hats off to Friedrich”
Moch went into the final from fourth place overall. On the hardest climb of the cross-country skiing, which Moch “remembered was worse,” he still had enough strength to pull away from Lapierre. Ultimately, the Frenchman had slightly better legs.
“Hats off to Friedrich, he has fulfilled a career dream here,” said Katharina Hennig, who shortly afterwards became the best German in ninth place in the women’s race when the American Sophia Laukli won the day. Victoria Carl came in 14th place. In the overall ranking, the two team sprint Olympic champions took ninth place (Carl) and eleventh place (Hennig). “I didn’t expect things to go so well here again,” said Hennig, who started with a lack of training after suffering from coronavirus.
With the double podium by Moch as well as two further second stage places for Carl and a third place on the day for Hennig, the German cross-country skiing team has reached another milestone on the tour on the way to absolute world class. Most recently, the Golden Generation of the noughties around Angerer, Sommerfeldt and Claudia Nystad were at a better level. The next stop is the home World Cup in Oberhof (January 19th to 21st), and this will be an atmospheric highlight, especially for the two Thuringians Hennig and Carl.